ING CAPITAL LIFE SIGNS BANCASSURANCE DEAL IN DALIAN

ING Capital Life has signed a deal with Hong Kong-based Bank of East Asia (BEA) to distribute ING Capital Life products through the Dalian, north-eastern China, branch of BEA. ING Capital Life, a joint venture of Netherlands-based financial services group ING and Beijing Capital Group, said that it was the first bancassurance deal between a Sino-foreign insurance joint venture and a foreign bank in Dalian. Under the agreement, BEA’s wealth management consulting centre will sell ING Capital Life’s group life products in China. Individual life product sales will not begin before the end of the year. BEA does not yet have a special individual yuan-based business qualification. ING Capital Life already has bancassurance deals in Dalian with locally based companies China Construction Bank and Bank of China. Bartholomew Ng, ING Insurance Asia/Pacific's China country manager, noted that “in 2005, the share of ING's total annualised premium equivalent sold via banks across the Asia-Pacific region rose to 22% from 14% in 2004”.